Abstract
Dow’s fire & explosion index (F&EI) evaluation method and accident tree analysis (ATA) are used to conduct qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis over the risk of fire and explosion accidents in the storage tank farm of a large refinery. Firstly, Dow’s F&EI evaluation method is used to conduct the safety evaluation for six storage tanks in the refinery. F&EI evaluation results show that the LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) spherical tank has the highest fire and explosion risk, which may reduce the hazard level of the tank to some extent after compensation through safety measures. Furthermore, ATA is used to analyze the fire and explosion accidents of LPG spherical tank, obtain minimal cut set (MCS) that affect the top event, calculate and sort the structural important degree of basic event, confirm the primary factors which affect the accident of the LPG spherical tank, and put forward appropriate prevention measures, thus improving the safety and operation reliability of LPG spherical tank.
